


The Ghosts of Tommorow

by orphan_account



Series: Demon in the Dark [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: AU, Aftermath, Multi, OC, half these tags are incomplete cause im dodging spoilers, universe reset
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-16
Updated: 2013-05-21
Packaged: 2017-12-08 15:30:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/763006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All is well and and as it should be? What a joke. That phrase should be struck from the dictionary. Rose Tyler's life is far from fantastic, but God knows she's trying. The universe just has other ideas. And there's the haunting suspicion that she's forgotten something...<br/>But you should know one thing.<br/>Never underestimate a woman trying to protect her family.<br/>ATTENTION: I have no intention to finish this. I just got aggravated with my blatant mischaracterization (what is was my first ever fic) and lost interest. Consider TOHF as a standalone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pompeii

**Author's Note:**

> IT WAS DONE AND THEN MY COMPUTER CRASHED AND THEN AO3 CRASHED I AM SO SORRY  
> no you didn't miss something, i'm playing with you guys a bit just follow along  
> also the chapter titles are easter eggs. first one to figure out what they mean gets nothing but my impressed approval.

 

The Ghosts of Tomorrow

Chapter 1

_Pompeii_

 

The alarm buzzed uncomfortably, and she considered smashing on the spot.

No, it would accomplish nothing other than supplementing her happiness. Four AM _hurt._

It was the only possible time she could get away with stealing the TARDIS though.

She had gone to sleep at midnight fully dressed, and now she slipped out the window of her second-floor flat without making a sound. She ran all eight miles across town in forty minutes flat. Superior Time Lord biology, she loved it.

She felt kind of guilty about breaking into her own house. Well, it hadn't been her house since she went to university, and she still had the key, so it wasn't really breaking in. But she wasn't supposed to be here, and certainly not supposed to be doing this, so it was half and half.

She allowed herself a smirk in the half-light. Mum had crashed on the couch again. Did that woman never stop working? The TARDIS was parked in the middle of the kitchen, which meant it had been used recently, for who knows what.

She grabbed the keys and a pen of the counter, scribbling her father a note so he wouldn't think some real thieves had taken his precious. It kind of contradicted the whole secrecy thing, to leave a note, but if she had attempted to ask her parents would have wanted details, the one thing she couldn't give.

_Dad-_

_Running off to say hi to Mels. Back in an hour at the most. (yes, I'm better at parking than you.) Sorry bout running off with your baby again. I'll take good care of her, try not to make any major paradoxes._

There wasn't even a noise as the blue box vanished from the kitchen.

Evelyn was too clever for that.

*******

"Where do you want to go first?" asked the Doctor.

"I don't know, you pick."

"Should there be trouble?"

"Oh, most definitely."

He grinned wide, and off they flew.

"When- where- are we?"

"Well..."

"Don't give me that."

"It's not another planet, it's not even that interesting."

"What'd you tell the TARDIS to look for?"

"What you asked for. Trouble."

Rose sighed a little bit. "Might as well go see what the trouble is."

They had parked outside a hospital that Rose recognized- she used to ride by it every day on her way to work. The sky was dark and thick with rain.

_We're still in London?_

"What year is it?" she asked.

"2008."

So they were a year removed from Canary Wharf. That was good; gave them less of chance of being recognized.

Like anyone would know who they were anyways.

People were starting to rush inside out of fear of getting soaked, so they let themselves get carried by the crowd. Rose lost sight of the Doctor for a split second and bumped into a med student, who proceeded to drop her armful of files all over the ground.

"Oh! I'm sorry." She bent over to help her pick it up.

"Rose! Come here!" the Doctor called. She still couldn't see that idiot.

"By the window! Come on!" he yelled again.

She sighed and shoved the rest of the files back in the direction of the med student, mumbling an apology about the mess, and waded through the crowd to find him without even noticing the student was still following her.

"Look at the rain!" said the Doctor with a smile.

"It's-it's going _up_." said the student.

"Oh, yes." he spouted enthusiastically.

The entire building shook, and they crashed to the ground. The student was up first, staring out the window.  "It's dark! But it was daylight!" she exclaimed in shock.

"Where are we?" Rose asked.

"It sounds crazy-but I think we're on the moon." She goes to open the window.

"No, don't do that!" shouts Rose. "The moon is a vacuum, they're won't be any air!"

"But these windows aren't very well sealed. There's got to be something outside, keeping the air in."

"Oh, I like you. What'd you say your name was?" the Doctor inquired.

"Martha Jones."

"Come on, Martha." grinned Rose. "This is where it starts to get good."

They dragged her up to the second-floor balcony in order to get a better look at the situation.

"It's extraterrestrial, it has to be." Martha babbled in a combination of excitement and terror. "I mean, I know most people don't believe in that stuff, which is stupid, considering what happened last year. I had a cousin, ya know, Adeola, at Canary Wharf-"

She had done it. She had said the magic words.

The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand before she could say anything and ran his thumb reassuringly over the back of her hand. _It's over now, that's a forever ago._

"I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?" puzzled Martha.

Rose laughed painfully. "We just had a bit of a close call there, that's all."

Martha nodded sympathetically, but she looked even more confused than before. "Who-who are you?"

"Sorry, did we never introduce ourselves?" The Doctor stuck out a hand. "I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor. And this is my-"

"-companion-" cut in Rose.

"-girlfriend?" Martha guessed.

"Well...sort of both- Rose Tyler."

"And you two-you two do this? Handle alien messes?"

"It kind of happens on its own, to be honest." said the Doctor. "We're just along for the ride."

"Look!" Rose pointed at a ship descending out of the stars. "Look familiar to you?"

"I-yes, I believe that's Judoon. But what do they want here?"

"Judoon? What's a Judoon?" Martha asked.

"Space police. Come on, I want to see what's going on."

"Mind if I stay here?" asked Rose. "I've got an idea bout what they might be lookin' for."

"Yeah, sure, Martha!"

They ran down another flight of stairs- Martha was starting to wonder if running was all they did- and hid in a pile of plastic ferns while they watched. The Judoon were systematically scanning everyone, then marking large black x's on the backs of their hands.

"They're looking for something non-human." muttered the Doctor. "That's not exactly good news for me."

"What- oh, you are _joking_."

Something terrible struck him. _Rose_. Her humanity was sort of in doubt these days. While he was distinctly alien, she was borderline enough to make it look like she was something attempting to hide itself. He had to get to her before the Judoon did.

"So what will they do if they find what they're looking for?"

"Accuse us of harboring a fugitive and kill us all."

"Oh, that's wonderful. You wouldn't happen to be our mysterious fugitive, would you?"

"You're hilarious, Martha Jones. Think. Was there any mysterious patient admitted in the last week or so?"

"I can go check the records."

"Good. I need to go find Rose."

By the time he got back to the balcony, she's already gone. He Doctor had a mild moment of panic, before letting himself calm down. She probably just went to check something out, that's all. Rose can take care of herself.

He nearly crashed into Martha on his way to meet back up with her.

"The records officer- in his office- dead-" she said breathlessly.

"What? Show me!"

Stairs. Enough with the stairs already.

"Something's been sucking his blood!" exclaimed the Doctor.

"Oh, now it's space vampires, just what I needed-"

"No, no, it's a plasmavore. They drink blood of other species to internally assimilate with them."

"Like that's so much better!"

"They'll look human to the Judoon, that's all that matters."

Something moved out of the corner of Martha's eye.

"Doctor?"

"Run!"

A thickset, tall man clothed head to toe in leather started chasing them out the room, down the hall, and into the MRI room. Martha smartly jumped out of the way, but the Doctor kept going straight into the room with the actual machine. She figured he was planning something, so she slammed the door behind him. The Doctor stuck his sonic screwdriver straight into the controls, highjacking the machine in a flurry of fireworks, and the man fell down to the floor.

"Radiation blast! Killed him dead."

"But aren't you-"

"Naaaahh, I'm fine. Used to play with this stuff when I was a kid." He reached over to grab his sonic, but it sparked and died as he went to throw it out.

"What? No! I love my sonic!"

The door started to shake with someone pounding on it.

"Martha, open it." said the Doctor, still forlorn.

A slightly bedraggled Rose nearly fell through the door.

"Thanks for finding me." she said sarcastically.

The Doctor tossed the fried sonic over his shoulder into a trash can. "What happened?"

Rose tossed her head in an attempt to comb her frizzled hair back into something organized. "Apparently the resident aliens think I'm their girl. Wanna explain that to me?"

"I'll explain that one later. What've you got there?"

"Grabbed one of their scanner things, and since you apparently wrecked your sonic-"

She threw it across the room to him, and he uncapped the pen end and drew a large black 'x' on the back of his hand.

Martha caught on quickly. "They'll think they've already checked us, right?"

"Ya got it, mate." smiled Rose. "So what have you figured out while I got chased down by Judoon?"

"Space vampires." said Martha.

"The term's plasmavore, Martha. You know, you're doing remarkably well with this." corrected the Doctor.

"I figure it's the oxygen deprivation that's causing half of this."

"Whatever makes you sleep at night. So we just gotta track it down and turn it in, right?" assumed Rose.

"Yes...well....yes and hope they don't come after us too. It'll be tricky."

They crept out into the hallway, still way even though they were 'safe'. One errant Judoon would be all it took, one accidental sweep with the scanner to make everything go wrong.

The Doctor swept the hallway; and then there was a woman, an older woman who didn't seem at all slowed down by the oxygen deprivation. Well, wasn't that suspicious?

The older woman vanished into the MRI room, and the Doctor followed, forgetting to tell Martha and Rose he was leaving. The machine was sparking and sputtering wildly.

"Is it supposed to do that?" he asked.

The woman whirled around. "No, it's not."

"Then why are we here? Shouldn't we leave? If there's something wrong we should tell someone. Maybe one of those weird rhino people. They're looking for somethin' strange, really desperately too. I heard they upped their scan level to a two."

"A two? Guess I'll have to assimilate again. Good thing I brought my straw."

"A straw? What's that for?" He played dumb, stalling for time.

Sure, it would be painful, and it could potentially kill him, but he had a whole hospital full of people he had to protect.

 It was his duty.

****

"Where'd the Doctor go?" asked Rose.

"Your tall fellow? I dunno, he was just here. Hey, what are you doing?"

"Looking for trouble. Easiest way to find him."

A platoon of Judoon burst past them and into the MRI room.

"And there we have it!" crowed Rose.

"This has got to be some kind of oxygen-deprived hallucination." muttered Martha, but she followed anyways. She didn't really believe that anymore. It just made her feel less crazy.

The Judoon were cornering a woman an old woman near the sparking machine.

"-deny these claims?"

"The brat deserved it, that simpering princess-"

"So you admit to the crime?"

"Yes!"

The Judoon aimed his scanner at her, but instead of being scanned, she disintegrated. Martha made a face at the barbarian style of the space rhinos. The Judoon didn't seem to notice or care that they were there, only marched past, revealing on the floor-

"Doctor!"

Rose fell to the ground and started shaking him. "Wake up!" she cried.

A Judoon turned around at the noise and flashed Rose with his scanner. For a terrified moment Martha thought she was going to be disintegrated too, but the Judoon got a disgusted expression on his face.

"Not human." he snarled. "Requesting full scan."

Rose only stuck out her chin bravely. "Do what you want."

There was something there, something that flashed for a moment in her eyes, and Martha couldn't make out what it was. The Judoon saw it though, and turned and ran in fear.

Martha suddenly found herself a little bit scared of Rose Tyler.

"Come on... you've got to wake up!" Anything scary was gone in an instant. She was the scared one now, scared she was about to lose him, the last person she had left in the universe.

Martha laid a hand on top of hers. "Let me handle this. I know CPR."

"Two hearts." Rose mumbled. "He's got two hearts..."

"Don't worry, I'll save your alien boyfriend."

A few heart-wrenching moments, and the Doctor popped up, gasping for air. He wasn't the only one. Oxygen was running low for everyone. Rose couldn't speak anymore, only lie against his shoulder in relief and send a silent glance in Martha's direction.

_Thank you._

The light outside started to change.

"What-what's-" struggled Martha.

The Doctor crawled to the window and smiled.

"The rain's going up."

******

"You need to stop doing that to me, yeah?" said Rose, unlocking the TARDIS.

"Yeah, I was worried about you too, thanks." replied the Doctor, taking her hand.

"Hey! You two! You're really going to leave without saying goodbye?" Martha had followed them out of the hospital.

"Well...not necessarily." The Doctor stared at Rose pleadingly, who rolled her eyes in a sort of _allright, i give up_ gesture.

 "Want to come with us?"

"Both of you? In that tiny box?"

Rose laughed knowingly. "It's bigger than you think."

"Alright. Just once. I wanna see how crazy you two really are."

Rose pushed in the door and let Martha walk in first, waiting for the telltale shriek.

"It's bigger on the inside!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Seven Devils

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this done for a couple weeks, sorry.  
> I suggest reading this and the next in one go. Makes more sense.  
> Also for length's sake I cut some stuff, but it pretty much sticks to canon where I cut it.

She can still see the sun if she closes her eyes.

It is burned inside her eyelids, a permanent of the parasite that nearly wrecked them, that terrible, terrible yellow glow still haunting them. The haunted screams of Rose as it invaded her mind and tried to pull her apart. The Doctor's desperate plea for it to take him instead. In the end they won, but it was worth a serious round of drinks at what the Doctor had described as "the favorite bar of an old friend" (she knew who that friend was, but that was irrelevant) and a long vacation on New Earth before anyone breathed easy again. Martha could handle a close call. She'd had her fair share now, with the Doctor and Rose. It'd been closer than most, but still...

Close calls were one thing.

The Master; well...

The Master was another thing.

She'd rather be haunted by the sun for the rest of her life then have to remember him.

.....

"How do you do it?" asked Martha.

"Hmmm?" Rose set down her coffee, still only half-awake. They had gotten up early to watch the sunrise on New Earth, which the Doctor swore was _absolutely fantastic_ ,but then of course he had disappeared to do something-or-other. He had mentioned what it was; Martha just wasn't really awake or listening either.

"Keep going like this. All these close calls. Doesn't it scare you that you might lose him?"

"Every day."

"Then why don't you stop?"

"I have too much fun. Besides, we always make it out alright. Close calls are just how we do things."

Martha understood that, sort of. She did like it too much to stop. And it was all close calls, nothing really bad ever actually happened.

"You two are so close, I don't get why you're not married yet. I can't see you with anyone else."

Rose smiled. "We have talked about it, yeah. But what's the point? Weddings are just big shows for families. Neither of has one of those anymore."

"C'mon, you've got to have someone. There's no such thing as someone who's really alone."

Rose shook her head. "Nope. My family was never that big to begin with. He never talks about his. They're both effectively dead. Friends and family, the whole lot. There's no point in changing things if no one's there to watch."

"So you conquered 'the talk', that's something though." Martha steered the conversation away from the minefield of families and into mildly safer ground. Rose never really talked in that direction before and she gets the feeling she's not about to start.

"What, the mystical 'where are we going with this' talk? It's not that scary."

"For you maybe." Martha scoffed.

"No, but really! All you gotta be is honest."

"It's never exactly ended well with me."

"It will one day, I promise."

Rose swirled around her now-empty coffee cup, like more is going to magically appear. The magic falls to happen, so the paper cup is tossed to the side.

It's still pitch black out here. Ugh.

"Have you ever considered stopping?" asked Rose. She's not trying to imply anything, she's just trying to keep up a conversation.

"Not really. I assume I will one day, but traveling right now is just-"

"Fantastic?"

"Fantastic. What about you?"

"Only if I had to. Like if I had to take care of someone."

"Like a little kid?"

"Martha, before you even go there, yeah, I've had that discussion too. Apparently it's freakishly illegal."

"Freakishly illegal? Wow, that's one thing you don't expect to hear."

"To be honest, I've kind of gotten used to the unusual shit."

"Yeah, well, me too. But would you even want-"

"I'd love it, it's just not a option. Doesn't bother me too much, anyways. I mean, come on Martha. Look at this. Look at what we get! Isn't it wonderful? So much wilder than any little domestic life?"

The sun was finally starting to peek over the horizon. The Doctor was right, it was beautiful.

"What did I tell you?" He's come back, trenchcoat and all. Oh yeah. That's what he'd been getting.

"You were right, it is spectacular."

The trouble is bound to start soon, Martha thought. They've never been anywhere this long without trouble. She's getting antsy, Rose is getting antsy, the Doctor is going stir-crazy. The vacation had been nice, but it's the adventure they all really crave.

"So where are we going next?" asked Rose. "It's about bloody time we got off this planet."

"I was thinking-" The Doctor cut off suddenly. 

"What? What is it?" Martha gushed excitedly. She knew that look, that look meant trouble.

At the foot of the hill walked four people, scepters in black, a mother and father and daughter and son. Martha couldn't see their faces; the distance was too great. 

"Who are they?" asked Rose, the edge of a thrill in her voice.

"I don't know! They're not from this planet."

"Trouble, yeah?" 

"Oh, most definitely." 

The tallest said  something to the youngest, and the little child's voice carried over the hill. 

"Your Family is here, Doctor!"

"What is she talking about?" Martha asked, bewildered.

"Martha, run!"

They're just suddenly _there_ , no longer at the bottom of the hill but perched at the top, black-cloaked specters with no faces. The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand rather violently before flying after Martha, and it became painstakingly obvious that this was not the good kind of trouble. No, the Doctor knew this Family, or at least knew of them, and they meant real trouble.

The console exploded into a shower of sparks instants before Rose closed the door. Oh great, now they're armed too?

"Martha! Did they see you?"

"No- I don't think so-"

_"Did they see you, Martha, this is important!"_

"No. No, I don't think they did."

"They most definitley saw me, though."

"Yeah, well, you're going to be a problem here anyways, Rose, that's irrelavant."

"Excuse me?" she snapped back.

"Doctor, who were they?" Martha cut in.

"The Family. They're a race that feeds off the life forces of others, literally using up their lives. If they got to me....well, they could live forever."

"But we- we can outrun them, right?"

"Now that they've got the scent? No, they'll never stop. Too many connections and I'm too big of a prize. It wouldn't just be them that lived forever, they could spread my lives out among their whole race. The Family's too dangerous to have that kind of power, they're too hardheaded."

"Alright, then, what do we do? How do we get them off us for a while?"

"If the scent disappears for long enough, they'll die. Their lifespans aren't that long without anything to feed on, they're like bugs."

"But it can't disappear without you, what, dying? There's no-"

"Actually, there is." The Doctor dug in his pocket and pulled out two pocket watches. One was silver and battered from centuries of riding shotgun in the pockets of a Time Lord, the other was polished and gold; it's been taken much better care of. He handed Rose the gold one.

"It was my granddaughter's, but it'll work for you." he said. 

"What's the plan?" she asked. She didn't say a word about the watch or the neat circles on the front; she trusted what he was doing.

"Remember what I was saying about how you were going to be a problem? It's like what happened with the Judoon, you're just enough not human to set off their radars."

"How did that happen, anyways? You never told me."

"It's a long story."

"Short version, then."

He sighed. "Bad wolf."

Rose nodded. "Okay. I get where you're going to go with that. Back to what you were-"

"- There's a way to get them to lose our scent. It's a chameleon arch. You can use it to disguise yourself as an alien race. It'll separate my timelord soul out of me- or your weird mutated bits and literally rewrite your DNA, your whole personality so you become an individual of that  species. You won't remember who you are or what you are. It was a last resort for TimeLords back in the day, we were all required to carry one."

"So we hide out as whatever for a couple months-"

"Three should do it, their lifespan isn't that long-"

"Then we come back and everything's good, yeah? But who makes us remember if we can't?"

"Martha! She stays human, we go human, then after three months she just opens the watches near us and we're back to normal. And Rose-" He slid up behind her, hands on her hips so she smiled, and bent over to whisper something in her ear. Whatever it was, it made her very, very happy, because she proceeded to turn her head and start kissing him a little fiercely. 

  
_Dear God, you're like a pair of overeager sixteen-year olds_.She gave them a minute before coughing just enough to suggest she was still in the room. 

Rose didn't look sorry in the least.

....

"Are you quite sure you're alright, Mrs. Smith? It's not like you to sleep this late."

Martha hated being a maid with a fiery passion. It was far too menial for her; the only consolation being she had only two weeks until this fiasco was done.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine." Rose said softly. "Thank you for worrying, Miss Jones."

It was still too weird, to call Rose Mrs. Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the schoolmaster and his wife, well, he had certainly set them up well. She wished Rose- the real Rose, not this formal, too-curious creature that Martha constantly had to hide a watch from- was still here so they could laugh about all this, how stupid these people were. She missed her friend.

"Can you get my coat, Miss Jones? I'm going out today."

Martha grabbed it and wondered for the fiftieth time what the Doctor's motives had been in setting Rose up as his wife. There were the obvious reasons, of course, but she suspected other reasons, reasons that involved Rose's conversation with her about _that talk_ and the apparently illegality of the whole affair. Rose had been suspiciously worn down these past few weeks...

Martha contained a smile. The whole thing was just too damn _cute_.

"Yes, of course." 

Rose stood up and took it from her, going to walk out before stopping at the doorframe. 

"Actually, Miss Jones- do you mind if I call you Martha? You've worked for me long enough, I feel like we're friends now."

"Whatever you want, miss."

"Martha, can I show you something? I don't really have any other friends here, and I'm dying to show _someone_."

"Sure, what is it?"

Rose smirked a little giddily. "Follow me."

She trailed behind Rose until they hit a little closet door just beyond the reach of the Smith's room. Rose pulled a key off a ribbon around her neck- it was so similar to how she used to keep her TARDIS key it was creepy- and unlocked it before stepping into the darkness.

"John and I made it when we first got here," she said, turning on the light, "but I don't think anyone's seen it before."

The closet had been converted into a tiny little nursery, nothing remarkable except the walls. They were half-painted with beautiful arrangements of stars and planets, an fascinating collage for Martha, let alone any baby who might eventually occupy the room.

"John did them." said Rose, noticing her entrancement. "He's quite the artist. Says he dreams about all these wonderful adventures." 

Martha had heard quite a bit about John's "adventures". The real deal was way better than his twisted version, in her opinion.

"We didn't think we'd touch this room for a while, to be honest, that's why he never finished them. Don't know when he's gonna finish them now, he never has the time, but they do need to be done."

"Are you-?"

"I think so, yeah."

Her hunch was fucking right. Martha loved it when this happened.

"Congratulations." Rose was going to love this when she came back, but it was also slightly freakish. Like, oh, while you were out, your weird human self was making you a kid. You're not going to remember much of it. It's just going to be _there_.  

Pity this room will be lost when they leave, it really is pretty. Although, knowing the TARDIS, it might just be copied onto another room. That's a thing the TARDIS has been doing lately, copying rooms from the various places they stop.

"Martha? You zoned out for a moment there."

"Oh, sorry. Are we staying here any longer?"

"Might as well go, I've got places to be. Don't tell anyone of your servant friends, okay? John is the only other person who knows yet, I want to keep it quiet for the time being."

"My lips are sealed." Martha swore.

Oh, Rose was going to be so bloody happy, the impossible dream come true. 

.....

"We need to make a fuel stop." said the Doctor.

"Fuel stop? What are you talking about, what does this ship even run on anyways?" questioned Martha.

Rose grinned cheekily. "Can I take this one? I feel really clever for knowing this."

"Go ahead."

"Back when the Timelords were still around, it ran off the machine on the planet that collected time energy from all the traveling people were doing. Now that they're gone, we've got to find it somewhere else. There's this rift in Cardiff, a rip in the middle of time and space, created back in the 1800's. All we gotta do is drop in, sit there for a few minutes with the engine ports open-"

"-like filling a car up with petrol-"

"-and off we go!"

Rose twirled around in the Doctor's outstretched hand as they bounced sentences off each other. _Not married, my ass._ Martha thought. They'd even kept their rings from 1914. 

"You two gonna stop eyefucking each other and actually get us to Cardiff?" 

She felt like a belligerent mother taking care of her teenage kids or worse, a grandmother minus the cookie shit. 

Yeah, she was happy for her friends, but _Christ_. If she wasn't around all they'd ever do would be stare at each other. 

"Yeah, on it!"

The familiar tremor of landing shook the TARDIS, and Martha fell back into one of the chairs, trying to make it look graceful and intentional at the last second. 

She wondered what'll happen to her, when Rose and the Doctor  inevitably stop in a few months. She doesn't want to leave this life, not yet. Maybe someday, but no, not for a long time yet.

The Doctor checked his watch. That's another thing her two idiots held onto- those bloody watches. They're fitting the adorable newlywed stereotype so perfectly it's pathetic.

"That should do it!" he announced. "Rose, close up the engine feed, third one on the left."

From outside, a faint shout drifted inside the TARDIS.

"Doctooorrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

"What's that?" asked Martha.

The Doctor dragged the screen over to his side. "Absolutely nothing! Let's go!"

His face said something very different. 

Rose reached over his shoulder to see what he was seeing. "But that's Jack! We can't just leave him here!"

"Yea, we can, and we're going to!" The TARDIS takes off, but doesn't stop, only accelerating in shakiness and speed as the screen switched over to something in Gallifreyan. 

" 1 billion...30 billion....400 billion...60 trillion... _what_?"

"What's it doing?"

"We're accelarating, flying forward in time, but we can't be going this far, I've never even been this far! 100 trillion, _what_!"

They landed suddenly, Martha falling out of her chair and onto the floor. 

"When are we?" asked Rose softly.

"End of the universe."

"But what's out there?" Martha picked herself off the floor.

"Haven't a clue. The TimeLords never came this far. We should go, we should really-"

He had that look on his face again.

"Oh, come on, I know you want to." said Rose with a devilish smile. "It's killin' you to suggest we go."

The Doctor laughed and threw open the doors. The sky was black and starless, the landscape hard and windy, no sign of any life or light at all. On the ground lay a man in a 1940's military trenchcoat, unconcious, maybe dead.

"Jack!" shrieked Rose. "I thought we left him behind!"

Martha checked his pulse. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but there's nothing. He's dead."

"No, he's not. In three...two...one..."

"AHHHHHH!"

Martha jumped back, startled.

"Captain Jack Harkness, and who are you?"

"Stop it." intoned the Doctor.

"Can't I even say hello?"

"Jack! But you were dead!" 

Jack lifted his head. "And out of the dust, a lovely rose comes calling my name. Aren't you supposed to be dead, Miss Tyler?"

She hugged her old friend. "I find being dead suits me better. Less bills to pay."

"So the last one of you must be- Doctor! You've regenerated!"

"Hello, Jack." He didn't look very happy.

Oh, well that's just wonderful.

.....

"So tell me, Doctor, why am I like this? Why can't I die? Last thing I remember, I was surrounded by a bunch of Daleks." asked Jack, pulling the power coupling out of its socket. 

"Rose."

"How? I thought you sent her home."

"I did. She came back. Opened up the heart of the TARDIS, absorbed the Time Vortex itself, saved us all. But she wasn't meant to have that power, Jack, no one is. Give it to a Time Lord and he'd be a vengeful god. But Rose was so human, so kind, so she brought you back, except she didn't know how to control it right and brought you back for good. I took the power out of her, it was killing her, but then it proceeded to kill me. That's how I regenerated."

"Was? Why did you say 'was human'? Isn't she still?"

The Doctor sighed and leaned up against the porthole glass. "I don't know, Jack. It changed her in ways I can't fix. I'm not sure exactly what it did to her...but she doesn't really qualify as human anymore, she's been mutated by the power of the Time Vortex. Maybe one day it'll have some relevance, but for all I can tell it just made her more stubborn."

Jack laughed, and Rose sighed so audibly over the intercom the entire room echoed it. "You know I can hear you, right?"

"Why do you think he said it?"

"Love you too." she muttered under her breath.

....

The universe yawned, a great blue hole opening in its surface, and deposited four travelers in the alley before closing it's mouth.

"Argh! Time travel without a capsule, that'll do ya in." groaned the Doctor.

"Oh, my head." said Martha.

Rose stumbled forward, coughing violently, one hand hitting the opposite wall for support. She didn't seem to be able to stand without support, her legs threatening to give out.

"Rose! Are you alright?" The Doctor rushed to her side.

She shook her head breathlessly.

"She shouldn't be that affected,she's not even human! If anyone should be hurt, it's Martha, and she's fine!" worried Jack.

"That could be argued." grumbled Martha.

"Yeah, well, she's a little more vulnerable lately." said the Doctor.

It took Jack about a minute to get it, his face changing from confused to very, very pissed off.

"You are _joking_."

"Jack..." The Doctor cautioned.

"You bloody hypocrite! All you ever do is yell at me to keep it in my pants, and meanwhile, you're making monsters that are nightmare fodder for the most experienced Time Agents!"

"Jack, it's not like that, there was- some fancy time-lord science thing involved, that watch thing-whatever it's called, we both went human for a while, okay? Not that stupid." cut in Rose, regaining her breath. "Doctor, stop looking at me like that, I'm fine." 

Her voice was dripping with annoyance, but there was a smile hiding in there somewhere.

"Oh. Okay. Good on you, then."

She rolled her eyes at Jack before straightening up and walking on, ponytail bouncing at him tauntingly.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Jack asked one last time.

"I've done this for two months already, I'm fine."

The Doctor still dipped in to take her hand. 

"Earth. Twenty-first century. Well done, me, didn't think it was fixable."bragged Jack, stating the obvious about where they'd landed.

"No, that was me, I got us here-"

"So, how do we find the Master?" asked Martha, breaking up the conversation before it turned into a rivalry match.

"He'll be here somewhere big, he likes power, drawn to it like a magnet. I'll know him when I see him."

Martha stared at one of the televisions in square that's been tuned into the local news. "I forgot the elections just happened. I wonder who won....Doctor!"

"What?"

"That voice, I just remembered where I'd heard that voice before, that's Harold Saxon, he just got elected-"

"-as prime minister! The Master's prime minister! The prime minister and his _wife_."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at the blonde woman the Master was holding hands with on the screen. "Looks like someone got jealous, look Rose, she's blonde!"

"Is this really the time for jokes?" said Jack.

"Don't worry, Doctor, she's got nothing on us." said Rose playfully.

"Martha, can we go back to your apartment? I need to borrow a computer, we need to find out how long he's been here, what he's been up to. Can't have been much, I locked the TARDIS before he took off, he can only take it between here and the year 100 trillion...well, give or take eighteen months...." The Doctor drags on as usual.

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

They walk the couple of blocks and Martha unlocks the door to her flat, chuckling to herself. 

"Four days. I checked the date and it's only been four days, yet I've been traveling with you lot for nearly a year. Isn't that odd?"

"Welcome to my life."

The Doctor booted up Martha's laptop while she turned on the TV.

"Doctor?" 

"That clever man, look at this history he's built himself. It's half legitimate, too, or at least during the length of time he's actually been here...launching the Archangel network, what's that?"

"Phone network, I've got it, everyone's got it. Even the other carriers are covered by it."

"Aha! Tell me Martha, were you going to vote for him?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I was."

"Why?"

"I-I don't remember."

"He's hypnotizing people, I knew it! Only way he rose to power so quickly. There's some sort of subtle signal in the phones, encouraging people, telling them to vote for him, do his bidding."

He sounded both impressed and disgusted.

"Doctor?" said Rose. "Our lord in Downing Street is addressing us."

The Master's face crackled into life. "Dear friends, I have been contacted."

"Oh, great, what now?"

"Shut up, I'm listening."

A pair of spheres flickered into existence besides him.

"My friends, the kind Tecclophane-"

"The Tecclophane! But there's no such thing!" This time it was the Doctor interrupting.

"Shut up! He's talking!"

"You shut up! Why would he be making up a race?"

"I don't know! Why does it matter?"

"This matters, Martha, this is important, what are those spheres?"

"-and I don't know, every medical student?" The Master on the screen kept rambling.

"Shit! He knows we're here!"

"Run!"

Jack grabbed Martha by the hand and made her follow them down the stairs and out the flat. They weren't twenty feet from it when it exploded violently, bits of metal raining down on them.

"Everyone alright?" asked the Doctor.

Martha whipped out her phone. "I'm calling my family."

"No, you can't!" ordered Rose. "You'll draw him to us."

"Try to bloody stop me!"

"Martha, listen to me. Getting them involved won't help anything. The only reason my family's gone is because I got them involved. Chances are, if he knows who you are, he's got them already. Calling them will only make things worse, do you understand me?"

Martha's hands were shaking, but she closed the phone. At the same time, Rose's rang in her back pocket.

"Who'd the fuck be calling me?" she wondered aloud. Literally no one this side of reality except the Doctor and Martha had her new number.

She answered the phone apprehensively. "Hello?"

"So it's the pretty one. Do me a favor, hand the phone over to your dear hubby for me." The Master's voice bled through the other end.

Rose contemplated smashing the phone on the spot, then wished she could reach through the phone line and strangle him. He was going to pay for that comment.

Instead she just handed the phone to her husband, as asked. 

She let him wander off down the street and talk, pretending she couldn't hear every word as they trailed behind. Gallifrey. Tecclophane. The Destroyer of Worlds. Such big words, such power in them. 

Sometimes being the only one of your kind is worse than being among the dead.

"-oh, and guess what? You won't be able to hide for long. Right now you're public enemies one through four, and I've got the whole world on my side. Oh, you're at the Waitrose station, hiding in the grocery, isn't that cute."

"He can see us!" realized Rose, forgetting she was supposed to be eavesdropping. 

"Run!" shouted the Master. "Go on, listen to your wifey. Run!"

"His 'wifey' is going to murder you in your sleep." Rose hissed.

But they did exactly that, ran and ran until night had fallen and peace was found by firelight.

Martha showed up with a bagful of food about five minutes after they had sent her out. "Managed to get this, don't think anyone recognized me."

"Oh thank God, I'm starving." gushed Rose, devouring it like a starved lion.

Jack side-eyed the Doctor. "Better get used to this, mate, she's gonna be a fun one."

"Oh, _joy_."

"Oi." said Rose through a mouthful of chips. "Just because I'm pregnant it does not mean you get to blame every single thing I do that you don't like on hormones. That's worse than assuming a woman's on her period every time she ticks you off."

"Sorry, my lady." said Jack with an exaggerated bow. Rose proceeded to punch him playfully. She was married to one of these bastards and the other was closer than a brother, she didn't understand how it had even happened that they could be such idiots.

"Anyways, I've got us tuned in to the government wavelength," said Jack, "we should pick up anything that comes through. Oh- hello! Encrypted file... I'm gonna need that computer, but Doctor, don't kill me."

"Why?"

"Well, you've been busy since we last met. So have I."

Rose leaned over to see what he was doing. "Jack, you better have a damn good explanation for why you're logging into Torchwood."

"WHAT?" The Doctor sounded worse than an angry parent.

"Doctor, I swear, they're different now-"

"They're the reason Rose lost her family in the first place!"

"Please, trust me, I revamped them, and I did it in your honor." Jack rubbed his face with his hands. "Looks like the Archangel file...more information on how every damn face on this planet is looking for us. Oh, but this is new! The locations of where they're flying in the people for tomorrow's alien meeting. If we could get in there..."

"Hang on, I've got an idea." said the Doctor. "TARDIS keys, everyone, give me your TARDIS keys. Oh, and Martha and Rose, your phones."

It was funny, all the weird places they kept their keys. Jack's was with a million others on a key ring on his belt, the Doctor's stashed in one of his bottomless pockets, Martha's on a dog tag, and Rose's on a yellow ribbon necklace. Some degree of tinkering later, and the Doctor handed them their new perception filters.

"As long as we don't draw attention to ourselves, we won't be seen. Clever, eh?"

"It's brilliant." said Martha.

"So we're ghosts, going to chase some nonexistent aliens? Sounds like my kind of day." said Rose.

"Onwards?"

"Onwards."

They sneak onto the airfield and watch Air Force One land, depositing the President to meet the Master. No one can hear the conversation at this distance, but the President clearly disapproves of the new Prime Minister. 

"-meet at the Valiant-"

"Did you hear that?" said Rose. "He said Valiant, where is that?"

"Aircraft carrier, I can get us there with my vortex manipulator." replied Jack.

"Then let's go- hold up, there's a police van getting here- no! No!"

Rose grabs Martha's hand before she can do anything else, and they fly off into the universe's maw again.

"But that was- that was my family-" Martha starts bellowing the instant they land.

Rose lies back into a corner, recuperating. 

"Yeah, it was. Sorry, but-" the Doctor starts.

"But what? We have to help them!"

"-but we can't do anything right now." 

"I hear the TARDIS." Rose murmurs.

"What?"

"She's downstairs, I can hear her."

"What even is this place?" asks Martha." Are we even on the sea?"

"Nope, in the sky."

"What?!"

"C'mon!"

The TARDIS has been parked in a corner, amongst piles and piles of boxes, and the Doctor hurriedly unlocks her. 

Already she sounds wrong. There's no welcoming murmur of engines, only a groan of overworked systems. The light has gone red and disgusting, the console ripped away to form a center pole of wires and dials.

"No! NO! What has he done to you?"

Rose had her hands over her ears. "She's screaming..."

"The Master's turned her into a paradox machine, he cannabalized her! What has he done to you, why? What paradox does he need to support? At this rate, it'll go off at 8:02-"

"...exactly two minutes after our fake aliens arrive." finished Jack.

"We need to get to the bridge!"

Teleporting in would attract far too much attention given Rose's current reaction to it, so sprinting up stairs it was. 

Fucking _stairs_.

They stand in the back of the room and watch in horror as the scene unfolds, the Master taking control and killing the president before addressing the world.

"I've got a plan." hissed the Doctor.

"What are you waiting for, go for-"

"You think I can't see you?" crowed the Master. "Perception filters don't fool me." 

Jack rushed forward in attempt to distract  and joined the dead instants later. So much for the Doctor's plan.

"Seize the Tyler girl." ordered the Master.

Thick, sharp hands grabbing at her, pulling her back, as she writhes and tries to resist. She heard her Doctor calling, begging for her, but he can't do anything. 

She must fight.

But she's outnumbered and it doesn't matter how strong you are, five against one never works.

"What do you want from me?" she growled. "I'm not your precious Doctor."

The Master poked her still-flat stomach. "I'm more interested in the monster you're carrying. What a pleasant surprise."

  
_Idiot_.There's nothing monstrous about her baby, only human, but let the man believe that if it'll keep her alive.

The guards were a little bit distracted by the Master's comment, and Rose took her chance, scrambling out of their arms. She got maybe three steps before the Master pulled a screwdriver-like-device from his pocket and aimed it at her, lightning wrapping its way around her wrists. All she can smell is her own burning flesh.

Then the world goes black.

...

"Francine, no! I know you want to kill him, but that's not the way."

Martha's mom hesistates and lowers the gun, hands shaking. 

"There you go."

They've done it now, reset time, fixed everything. The year that never was. Even the Master is restrained, and the last threat to his life has been talked out of killing him.

So where's Rose?

All this time, she was the only thing he ever asked about and the only answer he never got. He hasn't seen her in over a year, he can't even begin to explain how worried he is. Worried for all three of them. It's been a year here, she'll have the baby with her now. Maybe that's why she hasn't come up? It has to be.

The Master turns to run for the elevator, but Jack makes a convenient entrance and blocks him. Some plans work too good to be true.

"So what do you do to me now?" spat the Master. 

"You're my responsi-" 

A gunshot cracked the air, the Master staggering forward with a neat hole sliced into his brains. _What? Who's shooting? There's no more guns in the room!_  


The Master, his hands starting to glow green, turned to face his assailant. Any other person would have died instantly, but he's got the regeneration turnaround on his side. 

The Doctor stared too, not sure what to make of the scene.

The elevator doors must have opened again and he didn't notice- no- no! 

Rose was there, but decidedly empty-handed except for the sharp pistol in her hands. She was still in the same jean jacket she'd been in on arrival, although it'd been washed. But what hit him hardest was her eyes.

They were completely dead, dead as animal that's been  hit by a truck, devoid of all emotion. She didn't seem happy to see him or anyone else, no joy, not even sadness if something had happened to her, which he was praying nothing had. 

She was just...dead.

"Go to hell." she snarled at the Master.

She was waiting, he realized too late, waiting for just the right moment in his regeneration cycle, just the right-

"NO!" he bellowed. 

But it was too late.

The first shot did it, but Rose kept going, emptying the entire clip into the Master's chest until he fell to the ground. He was beyond help, beyond regeneration.

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?" he screamed.

But she still doesn't react, no fear or regret or sorrow, only the same dead look, her fingers loosening just enough for the gun to drop to the floor. 

She's just...dead.

So very, very dead.

_What happened to you?_

 


	3. E.V.O.L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...working to resolve my lateness by posting two in an hour

 

"Rose, are you okay? Where's-where's-"

His heart was pounding faster than rocket, every beat echoing in his head, and suddenly he understood how the Master had been driven mad.

She stared him down with those same blank eyes.

"There's nothing I have to do." she intoned.

Those were the last words  she said for hours, and it became blindingly, terrifyingly, painfully obvious that whatever had happened, their baby was gone.

Gone.

After they'd dropped Jack, Martha announced she wanted to go home. 

"It's been good, traveling with you...but my family needs me more now." she said, one hand on the railing.

The Doctor lunged out and grabbed her arm. 

"Martha, I understand if you want to leave," he said in a low whisper, "but you've got to help me. Ever since we got off that ship she hasn't said a word."

Martha paused. "We know she's a wreck, but what about you, mate? How are you holding up?"

"I'm-I'm fine."

"No, no, no, no; don't give me that 'tougher than anyone else' bullshit, it's never done you any good. Look, back when we were still on the run, before this fiasco even started, didn't Jack say he had a place in Cardiff you two could stay in for a bit?"

"That was a year ago, I'm not sure-"

"What I'm trying to say is you need to stop. Stop traveling for a while. One more close call is not going to do anyone any good, ok? Past that, I've got nothing. I don't know what to do."

He nodded. "Martha?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry, about what happened to your family."

"I know.

.....

The first night was the worst. 

She didn't talk, didn't say a word, just sat there on the side of the bed with a dull look on her face. Dead eyes, dead face, dead heart, it's like watching a corpse walking.

He didn't feel too alive himself.

And she just stayed there, stayed there until he sat down next to her and wrapped her arms around him, and the she just cried and cried and cried but never said a word.

There's no easy remedy for this, no magical thing he can fly off and get and save her. Save them both. There's just nothing to do but sit there and try not to cry too.

After a week or so, she woke up early one morning and started to gather her coat.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Out. I can't stay inside like this, it's driving me mad."

He didn't follow her.

....

She did a lot of walking these days. Not really anywhere in particular, just walking. Walking around the city, walking in the park. A lot of times she wanted to go walking on the bottom of the sea. But she'd never do that.

As she's passing the silver monument in the center square, she noticed something, a little flicker out of the corner of her eye. The part of her that still functioned, the last little bit that regurgitated facts at her, told her everything she needs to know. 

  
_Perception filter. Human-type. Possibly hiding an entrance_.

Her heart told her something else.

  
_Jack_.

Why not? She has no idea what else to do with herself.

So she walked over and stood on the invisible sidewalk, startling a bit when it started to slide downwards. For a moment she wondered how many people will be threatening her when she got down there. She had no idea of how many colleagues Jack had.

The air swept cooler around her feet as the lowering sidewalk fell into a tiled-wall cave. She started counting the number of gun-clicks- one...two...three...four. Four other people. Hopefully Jack's around.

"Who are you?" The first person to talk is behind her. Welsh. Female. She wished the analyzing part of her brain would _shut the fuck up_.

"Where's Jack?" Rose asked. Shit. If he's not here, she's screwed. Maybe she hasn't been thinking straight the past few weeks, but she should have thought this one through.

"How do you know Jack?" Male. British. A little bit younger, but not much. She could see this one- he didn't look to comfortable with his gun. Suit and tie and a baby-face. Looks like she found the coffee-boy.

"He's a good friend. Please stop threatening to kill me, mate, it's not very becoming of you." 

She tried to sound angry, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't force herself to feel anything. Her voice jut sounded flat, just as flat and cold as she felt.

The large, cage-like door on the other side of the room rolled and back and Jack charged through, phone in one hand and a bag of fast food in the other, completely oblivious to what's going on. 

"Owen, I need you to-" He looked up and froze. "Rose. What are you doing here?"

"Don't look at me like that, Jack, I'm not an invalid." Rose snapped. It's funny, how she could go from careless to boiling in two seconds. She missed the days when she could predict her own emotions.

"So you know her." confirmed the Welsh girl.

"Yeah, she's good, get back to work."

Rose stepped down from the sidewalk piece and started walking the length of the hub, eyes flickering over every last inch, every last piece of equipment, analyzing again. It gave her mind something to do, something else to focus on.

Jack started pointing out and naming people.

"Gwen-" the Welsh girl; "Ianto-" baby-face; "Tosh-" an Asian woman in glasses; "and Owen." the thin-faced doctor. "And up there's Mhweny."

A orange pterodactyl was soaring around the ceiling. Jack clearly didn't give a fuck about paradoxes. It's a nice change.

"So why are you here?" he asked. There's so much he's holding back, so much he's desperate to ask. Rose could tell, she's not stupid.

"I need somethin' to do, just sitting around, it's driving me mad."

"So you came to offer your help? I don't think your husband would appro-"

"I don't give a _damn_ about what my husband thinks, and you're a fool if you think I ever have."

Jack sighed. "Go home, Rose. You're not up to this."

She felt about ready to kill him. Who was he to decide what she could do?

"With respect, sir, we do need the extra hand. Weevil migration's about to start."

  
_Finally_. "Ianto, right?"

He nodded, and she held out a hand. "Rose Tyler."

Jack is shooting daggers at her- it's how she can tell how effective her silent 'fuck you' is.

"Is she a decent shot?" asked Owen.

"She's brilliant, but _she's not staying_."

"Give me one good reason." Gwen folded her arms in a huff. "Ianto's right, we need it."

Jack opened his mouth, thought better of it, walked over to Gwen, and dropped his voice to a whisper.

"Gwen...she was in a rough spot recently. I still don't know the full details, but she's messed up,really messed up. This Rose is _nothing_ like what she used to be."

"And who here isn't screwed up somehow? Everyone's lost someone. If you're going to make that argument, there's really nowhere better."

Jack sighed, muttered something about nobody listening to him, then started assigning jobs.

....

"Does he ever ask where you go?" Ianto asked her one day.

"Who, the Doctor? Doesn't even notice. I gave him a free pass to get out of the house if he wanted, man was going stir-crazy. He thinks he's home for dinner every night, but he's so bad at landing he's been missing weeks."

"Don't you think you should tell him that?"

"Why? He's been in a better mood lately. Whatever he's doing, it's helping. I'm not getting in his way. "

She still hasn't said a word about what happened to her, but here it doesn't matter. No one will bug her about it.

He did wonder, though. In all his time here, Ianto had never once seen her smile or laugh, and barely ever get angry or annoyed. She just sits there with the same dead look on her face, shutting up and doing her work. It's a terrible sight to behold.

Even after his fiancée Lisa died, he was happy sometimes. It was impossible to be sad forever, but six months and not a glimmer of hope out of her, it made him wonder about what possibly could break anyone that much. 

"I suppose I get that." he finally said, but she's gone dead to the world. 

....

"Rose, listen to me. It wasn't your fault."

"I was just a few miles-if I had gone back-"

"Nothing would have saved Owen, I hope you understand at least that."

"Yeah- but Tosh-" 

Jack grabbed Rose's shoulders. " _Listen to me_. No one could have saved them. They died as they should, as heroes."

She just stopped, like she's frozen in ice, the beginnings of tears caught in the corners of her eyes. "Everywhere I go." she said in a hoarse whisper, not really meant for anyone in particular. "Everywhere I go, someone ends up dead."

Ianto stared straight at Jack.

_There's nothing we can do to fix her, is there?_

He shook his head the tiniest of fractions. Ianto knew Jack couldn't hear him, but they knew each other well enough by now that they might as well be able to read minds.

....

It's funny how fast time can fly. A week become three, three weeks into three months, three becomes eighteen. A year and a half, a year and a half of change, and the world still feels the same.

Rose was working late. Again. She's made it a habit as of late, as if somehow the combination of sleep deprivation and coffee and alcohol might make her feel better. Ianto said it was going to kill her first. He's probably right. She didn't care.

Ianto is easily the only friend she has anymore. Gwen and Jack just wanted to smother her, to "make her feel better". At least Ianto understood she didn't need that. She needed peace and quiet and someone to look after her, that's all. 

But Ianto can't be everything. Half of her everything is dead. The other half is AWOL for weeks at a time. Anyways, he's not exactly 100% either. He's got a pattern, now- 6 weeks gone, then back for a week.

Her hands were shaking again, and she didn't know what the cause was anymore. Could be anything. It was nearly one, though, so she reached for her coffee. Her hands trembled a bit too much, and it toppled over onto her work. 

"Shit!"

"You've been lying to me."

She jumped, and it's been enough weeks since she saw him last that she didn't recognize the voice right away. 

"You're home early." she managed.

"If you call four weeks early. I figured it out, you know. Thought I had the TARDIS set to six pm, but it was landing every six weeks instead. Of course you'd know that, wouldn't you."

Rose slid out of her chair and attempted to compose herself, struggling for a defense.

"Why didn't you tell me you started working for Torchwood?" He discarded the first problem and moved on to the next.

"Why the fuck do you think." She felt so hollow, so empty, shell hardening against every word.

"You know I don't like his methods."

"Yeah, well, you don't exactly stop him, do you? But interfering with me, that's-that's okay."

"It's because I actually care about you! Rose, no one who has ever worked for him leaves alive."

"Do you now."

"What?"

"Care about what happens to me, because last I checked, you had someone else to show around the universe."

She had him pinned down now, even though he didn't realize it yet. Idiot. She had let it go, before, she had been trusting of him, but that time was over now. If he didn't trust her anymore, why should she trust him?

"What are you talking about, Rose?"

"You really think I don't know about your new companion? I have eyes. I notice things, all the little shit she leaves lying around the TARDIS."

"It's not like that, Donna's just a friend!"

"Yeah, like I'm going to believe that."

"Well, you know what, at least she's been there for me, which is more than you've ever been. At least she's stuck around,at least she tries to help, at least she _understands_ ,unlike you. You just hole yourself in here and shove away anyone who tries to come near you, shutting out every last problem on this damn planet-"

"Get out." It came out as a snarl, her hands clenching into fists. This,this is one step too far.

"Do you even care anymore, or are you just hoping everyone will forget about you? Do I even matter anymore?"

"I said, GET OUT!"

She snapped, launching out of reverie and throwing him up against the far wall, eyes blazing with fury, hands full with that ugly gray suit he'd traded in his trenchcoat for. More proof he didn't want to be there anymore, that he was just coming out of obligation. Oh, she was shaking with anger, and it felt good, to feel something after being deprived of emotion for so long.

And yet...

He looked so scared.

Good.

Footsteps, a flurry of movement, clicks and worried eyes and Jack and Ianto rushing in-

"We heard-"

"-thought we heard a fight-"

"-and it-"

They talked over one another, and Rose released the Doctor from her grip, anger's cloud breezing away to be replaced with a heavy lump in her throat. He slumped back against the wall, and she didn't say a word, only turned and marched out he door.

Jack reached out a hand to help the Doctor to his feet. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, just a scratch." he said shakily, cradling his cut arm with the other. It had been an accident, and it was most definitely 'not a scratch', but Jack let it go.

"Follow her." the Doctor ordered.

"She'll have gone and disapeared again, I've got no clue as to where she goes. You can never find her if she doesn't want to be found."

"Course you can't." he muttered irritatedly.

"I...might know where she is."

Jack nodded him out. "Just make sure she doesn't hurt herself, okay?"

Ianto kind of got it, why he was the only one Rose really trusted. Jack knew her too well, he smothered her. Gwen, well, Gwen was practically a rookie, she'd never really lost anyone. But Ianto had lost Lisa, he'd lost his _fiancée_ , pretty terribly too, and so he knew. Maybe he didn't know what she'd lost, but he knew what it was like to feel like the world had ended.

They called the Rose and Crown the oldest pub in London, although Ianto doubted that was actually true. The place was old, falling apart, the sign was so paint-chipped it was pathetic, but he doubted it was actually the oldest.

He did know he'd spent a lot of evenings here, and Rose had spent a lot of evenings here, enough to be counted to be counted as regulars, and they'd spent a lot of evenings here together, enough for people to wonder if they're together. Let them wonder. He's got a boyfriend and she's married, the rumors were only something to laugh at.

He sat down beside her at the bar and ordered himself a drink, Rose didn't even look up to say hello.

"What number is that?"

"Ianto, go home."

"I asked you a question."

She sighed and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her tired eyes.

The sleeve of her denim jacket slid back, showing the scarred edges of her arms. She's had those since they first met, he knew they weren't her own doing. They're not the kind caused by a blade anyways; they're more like the kind lightning caused, or some kind of electrical shock.

"Two, okay? It's my second, no go home."

"I'm here to make sure you don't drink yourself to death, you know that."

"I'm not getting rid of you, am I."

"No, you're not."

He reached out to grab her free hand, but she pushed away. Oh, that's right. He's gone too far, gotten too touchy. 

"Why don't you ever talk?" Ianto said, lowering his voice. "Maybe it would help you. It's not doing you any good, bottling everything up like that."

Rose didn't even look at him. "You look me in the eye and tell me talking about Lisa ever helped you, and then we'll talk."

Ianto exhaled  and paid for the next round. She's right. Talking about Lisa never helped him; Jack helped him. It was having someone that hadn't been affected that pulled him back to life, and she didn't have anyone like that.

And no, he didn't count.


End file.
